A Bar Joke

I should have written this earlier; however, I did a horrible, horrible thing. I started playing WoW again. (And there are just 5 hours left before Cataclysm.) Yeah…. Anyways, back to blogging.

When Andrew chose the topic, it was actually the history of bar jokes, but unfortunately, during my research I was unable to find very much information on it. At least, there was not enough information to create a full post on it. (Its wiki article spans two sentences on history.)

In lieu of writing an unsubstantial—and likely uninteresting—post on the history of bar jokes, I am deciding to actually write one. To have at least some relation to the original topic, I have included a historian in the mix.

A historian, a mathematician, and a philosopher walk into a bar. The bartender asks, “Whad’ya want?”

The three academics gaze around the room but do not answer.

“I said, whad’ya want?” the bartender repeats.

The historian looks at the bartender gravely. “What I want,” he says, “is Napoleon’s left boot.”

The bartender reaches under the counter and pulls out a very old left boot. “Napoleon was my great great great great great great grandfather,” he explains.

The historian takes the boot, looking very puzzled.

“What I want,” says the mathematician, “is a proof of the Goldbach Conjecture.”

The bartender once again reaches under the counter and removes from it a stack of papers with scribbles all over them. “Gauss solved it two centuries ago,” he said. “It’s a shame he never published the proof.”

The mathematician takes the papers, dumbfounded.

They wait for the philosopher’s request. “What I want,” the philosopher finally says, “is a bar joke.”

The bartender pulls out a roll of paper and lays it on the counter. The three academics start reading. It begins: “A historian, a mathematician, and a philosopher walk into a bar…”